For all the investor money flowing into AI, OpenAI's pivot to autonomous agents shows its weakness. It's yet to show a way of turning a profit, and autonomous agent's prospects look doubtful too

It's going to end up making money by fucking over consumers... New ways to enshittify software, media, ads, and collect private data, replace human jobs. It's something we never needed, and will accelerate our demise.

I've no doubt AI will either be the number one transformative technology of the 21st century or only come second to something like genetic bioengineering. That said, it's riding a wave of investor-fueled hype in 2024 that seems like a classic speculative bubble. Gary Marcus, the OP in this article, does a good summary of why this is so.

There's a tendency for commentary about AI to pivot around fanboyism for success with investors. Gaining multi-billion dollar valuations = significance. Perhaps when history looks back on AI in 2024 they will see the real action was happening elsewhere. I can't help noticing how free open-source AI is almost as good as the AI investors are valuing at 10s of billions.